The 13th Valley by John M. del Vecchio

This ambitious fiction-debut is promisingly alive with the gritty, insufferable atmospheres of Vietnam at full snafu tilt.
-Kirkus

Synopsis

Finalist for the National Book Award: A work that has served as a literary cornerstone for the Vietnam generation

The 13th Valley follows the terrifying Vietnam combat experiences of James Chelini, a telephone-systems installer who finds himself an infantryman in territory controlled by the North Vietnamese Army. Spiraling deeper and deeper into a world of conflict and darkness, this harrowing account of Chelini’s plunge and immersion into jungle warfare traces his evolution from a semi-pacifist to an all-out combat-crazed soldier. The seminal novel on the Vietnam experience, The 13th Valley is a classic that illuminates the war in Southeast Asia like no other book. It is the first title in Del Vecchio’s Vietnam War Trilogy, which also includes For the Sake of All Living Things, about the Cambodian holocaust, and Carry Me Home, which addresses the aftermath of war.

John M. Del Vecchio graduated from Lafeyette College in 1969. He was drafted and sent to Vietnam in 1970, where he served as combat correspondent in the 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile). In 1971 he was awarded a Bronze Star for Heroism in Ground Combat. He is author of "Darkness Falls," "Carry Me Home," and "For the Sake of All Living Things,"